United have a hand on Youth Cup

UNITED'S comeback kids have done it again and put themselves in control of the FA Youth Cup final. Two second-half goals at Anfield gave the Under-18s the advantage going into the second leg on April 26 at Old Trafford.

UNITED'S comeback kids have done it again and put themselves in control of the FA Youth Cup final.

Two second-half goals at Anfield gave the Under-18s the advantage going into the second leg on April 26 at Old Trafford.

The young Reds, who are looking for a 10th success in the competition, had arguably saved their poorest performance of the tournament for the opening 45 minutes on Merseyside.

Against the experienced 2006 winners, who had seven of the squad that beat City in last season's final on duty, United looked a shadow of the side who had enthralled Old Trafford in the extra-time defeat of Arsenal just a fortnight ago.

United youth coach Paul McGuinness must have been content at least that there was only one goal to chase down after the first half. That came after 16 minutes when Ray Putterill teased United right-back Richard Eckersley before sending a high cross for striker Craig Lindfield to out-jump his marker and beat Ron-Robert Zieler's charge from goal to plant home the opener.

Glimpse

A Chris Fagan shot at Liverpool's Danish keeper Martin Hansen after good work by Danny Welbeck was the only brief glimpse of the Reds' trademark attacking flair.

But the Red teenagers have proved they have a deep well of courage and resilience and they didn't let their disappointing early showing wreck their confidence.

They showed more purpose and more skilful passing in the second half and five minutes after the interval Daniel Galbraith sent in the kind of crosses Liverpool had been delivering in the first half.

It was the first major onslaught Liverpool's defence had faced and Robbie Threlfall made a pig's ear of it in front of the 19,518 crowd as he met the ball on the bounce to head past his own keeper.

United then had to defend stoutly but an attack in the 74th minute saw little striker Febian Brandy wriggle into the box and a desperate tackle from Liverpool skipper Jay Spearing sent him tumbling to the ground for a penalty.

Sam Hewson, the Reds' captain, kept his cool from the spot despite a barracking from the Kop, to seal a dramatic turnaround by the Boy Wonders.